Eye Contact
by Mortimer Van-Wyke
Summary: after gaining mysterious powers from a serious SILENT infection, young Shizuku Takimi joins FORT. When things get complicated, she is called upon as backup for a recently injured Saijo. Here, she poses as Saijo's younger sister while they investigate.
1. Shizuku's introduction

**My deepest apologies for any mistakes I make in the plot line or character info. I'm not actually that knowledgeable in some areas! It's also going to be hard not to turn Shizuku into an irritating Sue, considering her background. I'll try my hardest, though. Mind you, it's been an awfully long time since I've written _anything_, so if it wreaks now, It will probably improve over time. Here goes my first attempt at Lux-Pain fanfiction. This should certainly be an adventure~**

My name is Shizuku Takimi.

When I was only 10 years old, both of my parents were killed under mysterious circumstances.

Most people you'd ask would just tell you that my parents were unhappy, and they committed suicide. The case, from the average person's perspective, would seem like nothing out of the ordinary. Hundreds of cases such as these unfold every day.

Sad, none the less, but nothing to get yourself worked up over.

I've learned to believe otherwise.

Ever since this incident I've seen and heard strange things. It seemed like nothing at first, but as I grew older, I noticed these things becoming much more prominent. To a child, these things didn't seem so weird. I suppose it was because of my imagination. I was never told that I was wrong, because the adults in my life didn't quite believe me. They just thought I was being a kid, and having fun.

It seemed unlikely to me at first, but I've been able to read minds by making eye contact with people. It sounds ridiculous, I know.

I sound like one of those irritating teenagers, making up an eerie back-story for them self to look cool. Even saying it out loud, it sounds stupid to me, still. Regardless, it's who I am.

Though this power has always been there, I've never really liked using it. It's always felt invasive to me. Your mind is the only thing to each person that is truly private, and it makes me feel sick thinking I have the right to invade it, even if they weren't aware. There have been countless opportunities were I would have liked to have used it, but I've learned to control this urge. Admittedly, though, I haven't resisted every single time.

Soon after my parents had died, **FORT** found me. I was hesitant to join at first, but I was eventually and easily persuaded. They promised me things that no one else could supply me with… protection, and a sense of belonging.

The man who helped me had come from **FORT**. Liu Yee. The two of us work quite closely, now.

On that night, he seemingly appeared out of nowhere…

My parents had been fighting all that evening. It seemed like nothing at first, just some disagreements, but as the night went on, it got more serious. My mother locked herself in her room, screaming. As soon as I heard pounding on her door, I hid myself. Though it was quite muffled, I heard hysteric crying, and a loud crash. I didn't dare leave my room.

I heard police cars were surrounding my apartment, examining the crime scene. Soon after stabbing my father to death, my mother had jumped several stories from our window to her death. Being only 10 years old, and scared out of my mind, I was hiding, crying in my closet. I didn't know what to do. I was panicking.

He showed up a few minutes later. I was bawling my eyes out, trying my best to hide myself from the commotion, but he still found me. There was something about him, though, that didn't make me panic like the police did. Despite his dark, unfriendly expression, I could tell he meant me no harm. In fact, I had a certain feeling about him that assured me that he meant good.

"Shizuku, calm down." He whispered quietly to me, entering my room. I didn't respond to him. I covered my face and cried even harder.

He shook his head and stared at me briskly, pulling my hands from my face.

"You're being ridiculous. Calm down." He said again, attempting to pull me to my feet, but I resisted. I didn't want him to touch me.

I don't remember much after that.

Later in the night, the police found me, unconscious. I was at the station the next day for a bit of questioning, but I was soon after put into foster care.

Liu works with **FORT** as a sweeper now, so I can consider myself lucky. Sweepers tend to take much more of a direct approach to defeating Silent, by simply destroying their conscious mind. If such a thing had happened to me, I certainly wouldn't be the person I am today.

The next 6 years of my life were pretty scary. I didn't really have a permanent home, and I was being bounced around from city to city. Fortunately,** FORT** took me away.

All those years ago, I had been infected with 'Silent', as had my parents.

**FORT** is an organization of telepaths founded to stop these parasites before they spread any further.

Another young member of **FORT**, Atsuki Saijo, apparently had similar experiences to mine, and these were due to Silent. Silent is kind of like a mental parasite. It's created through deep feelings of isolation and depression, and is often very contagious. Symptoms were often things like feeling of uselessness, and feelings of rage. This parasite often drove people to commit crimes, kill, and ultimately commit suicide. FORT told me that the Silent were responsible for killing my parents. This is where I came in.

Often, being infected with silent can alter one's mind. Apparently, during my infection, I had gained some interesting abilities myself. This is why I had been hearing things.

Usually, people with an infection as deep as mine would be killed, but I had somehow survived. I apparently wasn't the first case where this had happened. I had survived, because, like others, I had a very special mind. I had a mind pure enough to use an item called the 'Lux-Pain'.

There are only 12 of these in existence, and very few are actually capable of using them. In fact, these are often quite dangerous to obtain and use. Anyone wishing to obtain and use the power of Lux-Pain and Sigma must undergo a risky operation.

The chief told me that they needed people like me. So, with much hesitation, I agreed to help them.

My Sigma operation eventually allowed me to take control of my telepathy. Though I can unfortunately only use my powers through eye contact, I consider myself just as useful of a member as anyone else.

I am currently equipped with the power of _Christibald_, a Lux-Pain in the form of an anklet on my left ankle. I don't seem like much, seeing how I'm only 17 years old, but I'm determined to make FORT's mission a success, no matter what I do.

Though it often seems like an unachievable goal, I will not rest until I can bring silent to it's knees.


	2. Episode 00 :Flamma:

**well, I'm glad to see you've bared with me through that terrible intro. The story actually begins here.**

**time for introductions and development that's written in a way that _won't_ make you throw up.**

**this chapter is a bit short, but that doesn't really matter, does it? They'll probably grow in length as they go on~**

**enjoy.  
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* * *

><p><em><strong>Episode 00<strong>_

**(Flamma)**

As I opened the door to apartment 218, I felt a cold, foul wave of air rush past my check. Shuddering, I raised a hand to my nose and stepped cautiously inside, being careful not to step on any of the object strewn about the floor.

I stopped and looked around.

The room was dark and small, as it always had been, but not as we left it. The sandalwood-colored walls were thoroughly water stained, and the atmosphere was thick with the stench of mildew and stale air. Even the sunlight was barely peaking through the rust covered blinds.

It made me gag.

It was a terrible shame seeing my old home in such a mess. Admittedly, this building was a bit of a dump to begin with, but it was disgusting seeing it this bad. Whoever owned the place now, If anyone, clearly didn't care about the condition of unused apartments. In fact, it seemed almost as if they _liked _filth.

I suppose no one wanted 218 after the news of the murder and suicide got around. The whole building seemed cold and deserted; I only assumed that most of the residents moved soon after the incident, and that no new flow of customers came to replace them. I know that I wouldn't have.

I slowly took another few steps forward, running my fingers over the putrid blind cord. Wincing, I ground them open.

Sunlight poured into 218 for what was probably the first time in 7 years. It was closed when I left, and I couldn't imagine why anyone would have come in and opened them since. No one had lived here since me.

The lights slithered eerily over the crumpled documents and broken cups on the wine-stained carpet, slowly filling the entire apartment.

I frowned.

My mother had jumped from the kitchen window, not this one, but I couldn't work up the courage to go in there. I could see from outside that that window was still smashed in and plastered with yellow caution tape, meaning the room probably hadn't been cleaned. That meant remains.

Not human remains, mind you, Bodies clearly would have clearly been removed by now. The police obviously wouldn't leave a murder victim's body in an open space for 7 years. That's disgusting. I'm speaking about the mess left behind. The kicked in wall, the kitchen knives on the floor, the blood and wine stains everywhere…

That kind of stuff.

I couldn't look at that.

I was okay here. I wanted to be out here. I was sure I'd throw up if I went in there. I wanted to check on 218, not remember. I was _very _done with remembering. The very thought of seeing my father's blood my stomach churn.

Next, I proceeded to open the window. It was a bit difficult, the hatch being so tight and old, but I managed. Putting two hands on the bottom, I wedged the window open with a loud _**Fwack.**_

Fresh air flooded the room.

Peeling the hand from my face, I leaned forward and took a deep breath, filling my lungs with fresh, city air.

The mildew stench quickly began to mix with the smell of exhaust.

Suddenly, I heard a ringing sound from my bag. Taken by surprise, I quickly pulled my head inside, smacking hard into the pane. I rubbed my head and drew my phone.

"hey Shizuku. It's me." Nola said, smiling over video chat.

I laughed gingerly. "Hello, Nola."

Nola's smile melted as she looked me up and down. "Shizuku… where are you? You're not…"

I frowned. "Nola, I-"

"Miss Takimi!"

Nola's sudden change in tone caused me to flinch. "…I figured it wouldn't hurt to take a look! I finished my required investigation, and it was sort of in the area. I _had_ to. You know you would too, Nola! I-"

Nola frowned violently. "You've been ordered never to go back there, Shizuku. You're defying an order! I'll let this slide, but next time I'm going straight to chief Ray, got it?"

I nodded in embarrassment. "Yes."

"Anyways, that's not why I called. We have a lead on the Shanghai incident infectee."

I lit up. "What? Really? For real this time?"

Nola nodded. "Yes. We've traced the line of infection to a city called Kisaragi. We've got Saijo down there checking it out right now. He's enrolled at the school. It's quite interesting, actually… you know the whole thing, right?"

I nodded. "How he infected 10, 000 people in one month? Yeah. What about it?"

"well, he picked it up in Kisaragi. It's just such a tiny city. Barely anyone even knows about it. Anyhow, Saijo's already checked one man, but he wasn't the original."

"Damn. Any other leads?"

"Well,all we know about the original is that they have a love for art…. But you already knew this, didn't you? Other than that, none for now. We need to check around some more. That's why Saijo's at the highschool."

"I see."

"We need you down there, you know that, right?"

My heart sank.

Atsuki Saijo had recently been injured on his last mission. Some things went wrong – I'm not sure what – and he was now having issues handling solo projects. I had asked Nola time and time again what had happened to him, but she refused to speak of it. It kind of pissed me off that she wanted me to help him on back up, when I didn't even know what was wrong with him. None the less, I had to. It was my obligation. Not only had I loyally sworn myself to **FORT**, but Atsuki was like a big brother to me. I had to help him, regardless of whether or not he felt comfortable about telling me the details of his apparent injury. I felt obligation.

I sighed, wiping some sweat from my brow. "…I thought so. Saijo's not doing so well, is he?"

Nola smiled. "Well… I think he'd be okay if you there, just in case, alright? He's a strong guy, and he can stand on his own two feet. We need you there just to make sure he stays that way, Shizuku."

"I understand."

Nola nodded and glanced away from the line of the camera. "We'll make sure you're in Kisaragi by tomorrow. You'll have to enroll in the school there, like he did."

She paused, and looked back.

"…how do you feel about going undercover his sister?"

I blinked. "…h-huh? Why would I need to do that?"

"So that you don't appear suspicious. Think… two transfer students arriving one day after the other under suspicious circumstances… That wouldn't seem right."

I nodded, understanding her motive, that did make sense. "Ah, I see what you're getting at. Atsuki and I are the same age, though. We don't look like twins, Nola."

"details, details. Twins aren't always identical. You could arrive a day late, saying you had some unpacking or adjusting to do… We'll make sure that the two of you have the same classes, and such…"

I shrugged. "…alright, then. It sounds good. I'll be heading there tomorrow?"

Nola smiled sweetly and nodded. "yes. For sure. Kisaragi is just a stone's throw away from your home town. We'll have you there before you know it."

I smiled hollowly. It made sense that I used to live so close to a place like Kisaragi, it being the center of all of this. "Alright. I'll make sure that I have my stuff together."

"Good…. Can you do me one more favor?"

I tilted my head. "hm?"

"Get out of that apartment, and make sure you never go back. You know that it's an order."

I laughed, even though it wasn't funny. "Right."

Smiling, I said my goodbyes to Nola and hung up.

I turned and looked outside.

My entire time working for **FORT**, I'd felt as if I'd done nothing. I felt wonderful knowing that I was actually needed for something. I felt like a little kid being accepted into an important club.

For the first time since my parents were killed, I felt _needed_ by another human being.

**Episode 00 end.**


End file.
